Chapter 590: Naruto at His Strategic Peak

"What?! Don't tell me Makoto swings both ways in this world?!"

When Naruto heard that Lee and Guy had been captured too, he was completely stunned.

"Idiot!"

Tenten smacked him hard on the head.

"I already told you! Lady Hokage hates bond-type shinobi more than anything. If the supermarket owner were one himself, how could she possibly tolerate him?"

Then she narrowed her eyes.

"And what do you mean by 'this world'? Did you have some dream about another world or something?"

"Then why were they captured?"

Naruto endured the pain without rubbing his head.

He was afraid that if Tenten noticed he had taken a solid hit without disappearing, she might realize he wasn't a shadow clone at all.

"Because of you and Kakashi."

Tenten sighed.

"Neji plans to hand Guy-sensei over to Kakashi and leave Lee for you."

"For me?!"

Naruto's eyes nearly popped out.

"Bushy Brows and I are completely innocent! We're just normal friends!"

Then he added indignantly,

"And even if I were a bond-type ninja, I'd obviously go for someone like Sasuke! Why would I ever choose Bushy Brows?"

"You might not like him, but Kakashi does."

Tenten spoke as though explaining something perfectly obvious.

"Kakashi inherited your father Namikaze Minato's suspicious tendencies as his student."

"You should know this yourself. Kakashi spends every day carrying around one of Jiraiya's ridiculous romance novels about Jiraiya and Orochimaru."

"And practically everyone who's worked closely with Kakashi has eventually fallen victim to his questionable reputation. Yamato, Obito, Guy-sensei… all of them."

Naruto stared at her speechlessly.

"Neji's message is simple."

Tenten continued.

"If you refuse to appear, he won't just hand over the two girls you might like."

"He'll report you too."

Naruto's expression stiffened.

"He'll claim that you, Kakashi, Might Guy, and Lee have been involved in some kind of outrageous teacher-student scandal."

"Then he'll bring Konoha's anti-obscenity enforcement squad to raid the place."

"Of course, they'll only catch Kakashi, Guy, and Lee."

"But Neji has already prepared the explanation."

"He'll tell those three that if they don't want Lady Hokage to hear about it, they have to redeem themselves by reporting you."

"They'll claim that you were using a shadow clone to sneak over and meet Lee, and that the moment the inspection squad arrived, your clone immediately dispelled itself."

Tenten spread her hands.

"And considering how many shadow clones you've been scattering all over Konoha these past few days…"

"You know the saying. If mud falls into your pants, even if it isn't filth, everyone's going to think it is."

"Once Lady Hokage becomes convinced you're a bond-type shinobi, you'll experience her real disgust."

"At that point, hiding won't be some little game anymore."

"You might genuinely have to spend the rest of your life running around as a missing-nin."

Tenten looked at him earnestly.

"Naruto, can you accept that?"

As Neji's teammate, she knew the situation better than anyone else.

She was also the person who most desperately wanted Neji to turn back before it was too late.

"This…"

Naruto finally wavered.

Even though he knew perfectly well that this was an illusionary world, he still couldn't abandon every last principle and simply stop caring.

He was just about to give in and tell Tenten that he was the real Naruto—

When a flash of inspiration struck him.

He suddenly remembered the mission given to him by the Sage of Six Paths NPC at the very beginning!

The old man had told him to prevent Kaguya's revival and create a world for furry lovers!

Naruto seized on that thought.

And instantly understood what he had to do.

Tenten had only said that his mother Kushina hated gay-type shinobi.

She had never said Kushina hated furry-loving shinobi!

That was the loophole!

"Kiba."

Naruto suddenly grabbed both of Kiba's hands with an extremely serious expression.

"If we want to save Sakura and Hinata, I need your help."

"Naruto, calm down, meow!"

Kiba hurriedly yanked his hands away in fear.

"I'm not a bond-type ninja! Don't let people see this and misunderstand, meow!"

"Meow?"

Naruto immediately noticed Kiba's strange verbal tic.

But there were more important things to worry about right now.

"Kiba, your family raises ninja hounds, right?"

Naruto leaned forward.

"Quick! Lend me one of your female dogs!"

The instant the words left his mouth, even Naruto felt that something about the sentence sounded deeply wrong.

"A dog?"

Kiba blinked.

"Naruto, what are you planning?"

"Fine. I'll tell all of you."

Naruto straightened up.

"First, you need to understand something."

"If Neji can do this to me today, he can do the exact same thing to all of you tomorrow."

"So making my real body appear and compromising with him won't solve anything!"

Naruto launched into a passionate speech.

"What we need to do is make Neji lose my mom's trust—Lady Hokage's trust!"

"Only then can we solve the Neji problem at its root and settle everything once and for all!"

"That's called once and for all, not whatever you just said."

Tenten immediately corrected him.

Still, she had to admit Naruto's argument made some sense.

Neji was currently abusing his authority and making everyone around him nervous.

Lady Hokage might be domineering and dictatorial, but surely her intentions were fundamentally good.

It had to be subordinates like Neji who were twisting her policies during implementation.

And Neji himself probably meant well too.

He had simply been blinded by power.

"Tenten, go tell Neji that I'll meet him beside the pond near the woods outside the village."

Naruto began assigning roles.

"Tell him not only will my real body be there, but every single shadow clone will gather there too. He won't have to worry about me tricking him."

"Ino, go find my Hokage mom."

"I don't care what excuse you use, just make sure she comes to the same place where Neji and I are meeting."

"But bring her a little later."

Then Naruto turned to Kiba.

"Kiba, give me a straight answer. Can I borrow one of your family's dogs?"

At this moment, Naruto had reached the absolute peak of his strategic intelligence.

His IQ was practically on Shikamaru's level.

"Of course!"

Kiba slapped his chest generously.

"Use whichever one you want, meow!"

Kiba Inuzuka hated dogs more than anything.

His greatest dream was to escape his family and establish an annual Konoha Dog Meat Festival.

Now Naruto clearly intended to do something involving one of his family's dogs.

Naturally, Kiba supported him wholeheartedly.

He had been sick of those dogs for years.

He simply lacked a legitimate reason to do anything about them.

Now—

The opportunity had finally arrived.

…

Half an hour later.

Beside a pond in the woods outside Konoha.

Neji appeared with his Byakugan already activated.

He swept his gaze across the dense crowd of Narutos standing before him and carefully confirmed their numbers.

"Naruto, I didn't expect you to actually have some sense of responsibility."

Neji folded his arms.

"But there's no reason to keep all these shadow clones around anymore."

"Dispell them."

"Then surrender quietly."

Naruto immediately shook his head.

"Bring everyone out first, Neji."

"Otherwise, how do I know you were ever planning to release them?"

"For all I know, you just used me as an excuse to kidnap them!"

"Hmph."

Neji sneered.

"Don't take me for an idiot, Naruto."

"If I actually brought them here, wouldn't you simply try to take them back by force?"

"Hinata and Sakura are being held somewhere else."

"As for Lee and Guy…"

"I've already sent them to Kakashi."

Naruto's face twitched.

"If you dare go back on your word, I'll immediately report everything to Lady Hokage."

Neji stopped speaking.

He simply stood there, waiting for Naruto's answer.

Naruto knew perfectly well what Neji intended to report.

Tenten had only just explained the entire scheme to him.

It was a completely open conspiracy, one almost impossible to refute once the accusation was made.

However!

He, Uzumaki Naruto, wasn't some helpless amateur either!

He came from the real shinobi world!

He was a man who had read countless questionable books!

He had witnessed more twisted and absurd schemes than ordinary people could even imagine!

Suddenly, Naruto received a message through Ino's Mind Body Transmission Technique.

His mother had arrived.

Naruto looked at Neji, who was still staring at him with complete arrogance, and couldn't help sighing dramatically.

"Neji…"

"Even with the Byakugan, power has blinded your eyes!"

Naruto raised one hand.

"Today, I'm going to beat some sense back into you!"

"Sexy: Reverse Harem Jutsu!"

Every single Naruto shadow clone transformed at once.

Then—

They all charged straight toward Neji.

At that exact moment, Kushina arrived.

And the sight that entered her eyes was—